Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Robbie had a regularly scheduled pediatric GI visit today. We saw the nurse practitioner in the office whom I happen to love. She has 26 weeker twins herself, so she's a member of "the club."

Robbie was less thrilled about the visit. He really had developed quite the phobia of doctor's offices. He was fine in the waiting room, but as soon as we walked into the exam room, he started crying hysterically. He cried all the way through being stripped, weighed & measured and most of the way through our discussion about how things are going.

The good news: He weighed in at 20lb 15.5 oz, measured at 26 inches. That puts him on the growth chart for weight. About 10th percentile. Everyone oohed and ahhed over how chunky he is. She even called in the doctor to marvel over the change. There were lots of giggles about his "man-boobs" (or "moobs" as the nurse practitioner referred to them.)

The NP said the computer yelled at her because his weight gain was so great. That's both good and bad, of course.

Yes, it's good to see him gaining and looking healthy, but there are limits as well. He gained 4lb in the month of July. That's double the maximum they like to see.

I explained that we're finally getting a handle on the puking and how much his caloric needs have changed. She approved of the changes I was making and asked to tweak them just a bit more.

Right now, the plan is to keep him at 90 kcal/kilo for 6 weeks. We'll see GI again at that point for an official weigh in. If he's still gaining too much at that point, we'll drop to 75kcal/kilo for another 6 weeks. If he's STILL gaining too much, he'll earn himself a metabolic work up to make sure nothing else weird is going on.

She's not concerned about one banner month of weight gain, particularly considering how poor the previous 13 months were and how far behind he was. She thinks he just hit a catch-up growth spurt (common in preemies) and we should be fine, but we will watch to make sure. Her hope is that he maintains his growth curve of 10 percentile.

Everything else was good. We walking about his development. It's always nice to talk to another mom who truly understands the battles we face. Her twins are several months older than Robbie, so it's always nice to hear how they're doing and hear how they're overcoming their obstacles. It gives us hope.

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About Us

Robbie was born 14 weeks prematurely on 5/31/08. He weighed 1 pound 7 ounces an was 12 1/2 inches long.
He spent 96 days in the NICU, coming home on his expected due date September 4, 2008.
He's now three and amazing us every day!